The Amalfi coast

Hello everyone!

My final two days in Italy were spent based in Salerno, on the eastern end of the Amalfi coast, south of Naples. On the first day, we visited the excavated remains of the ancient Greco-Roman village at Paestum, founded in the seventh century BC and now a UNESCO world heritage site. The majority of the village has not been excavated, as there is a small town on top of the remains — in fact, remains were uncovered when building the town’s main road. The construction continued on, destroying what little of the ancient town was uncovered, leading to a criminal case against the manager of the project.

It was nice to walk along the excavated streets and see the layout of the individual rooms and buildings in the town, as well as the original street paving stones, which still carried the worn cart-tracks from ancient times.

There were also the standing remains of three temples (thankfully the last temples I saw in Italy, as I was starting to suffer from temple-fatigue), of which the Temple of Hera was amazingly complete, much more so than any other temple I have seen. This temple was so impressive that the neighbouring temple, which would have been quite grand on its own, suffered in comparison and was sarcastically waved off as “just another temple”.

The plan for my final day in Italy was to head along the Amalfi coast to Positano — reputedly the most beautiful of the many small towns situated along this stretch of coast — and finally enjoy the beach day that the Italian weather had so far conspired to prevent. The plan was foiled at the very first step, as the bus timetable only allowed us to travel as far as the town of Amalfi, since we had to get to Rome airport by late evening. However, all was not lost! The 90 minute bus ride along the Amalfi coast was worth the ticket price solely for the wonderful views of the small towns and many vineyards perched precariously on the steep coastal cliffs, and the town itself turned out to be very nice, with many interesting side-streets and twisting passages that were thankfully free of tourists. And in possibly the biggest stroke of luck yet, the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly, allowing us to finally swim in the Mediterranean! At this point, the day was officially a success, and we managed to have some very good pizzas at a secluded restaurant before returning to Salerno.

It is worth mentioning that the road along the coast was only just wide enough for two cars, and on the frequent occasion that two buses attempted to pass each other, we witnessed the most amazing precision driving, as full-size tour buses manoeuvred with mere centimetres of clearance on either side. At times it was disconcerting to sit on the ocean side of the bus, as the bus sometimes appeared to be hanging over the edge of the road, with a very long, steep and rocky descent to the water below. Thankfully all disasters were avoided, and we were able to board the train back to Rome. All I want to say about my final night in Rome is that the Leonardo da Vinci airport is not the best airport in the world to sleep in. Not even close. In the morning, I boarded my flight to Reykjavik and said goodbye to Italy.

I hope you are all well!